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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Exploring: Web Resources for Writers

Surfing the web is like hunting for buried treasure. There is so much information, but much of it goes unused and undiscovered because the site is not actively promoted, or because we simply don’t know where to look.

This time I began my search with broad terms such as “writing” and “grammar.” There was buried treasure, lots of it. I hope you find something of value in this list.

Patricia Stoltey is a mystery author, blogger, and critique group facilitator. Active in promoting Colorado authors, she also helps local unpublished writers learn the critical skills of manuscript revision and self-editing. For information about Patricia’s Sylvia and Willie mystery series, visit her website and her blog. You can also find her on Facebook (Patricia Stoltey) and Twitter (@PStoltey).

All wonderful suggestions, but I already have dozens in my favorites. Frankly, this is the overwhelming part of trying to be a writer. The keeping up part, we are always so sure we must be missing something and we try to read all the blogs and all the books that also seem to reiterate what the same things over and over.IMHO! The only way to make any money in writing is to write about writing.Feeling Overwhelmed.Patg

Thanks, Patricia, for these. I also recommend Stein on Writing, and have heard many agents say it's a "must have." I don't have How to Grow A Novel, though, and thought I'd try to get it used online. I see there are two editions. One with a yellowish cover from 1999, and the other white from 2002. Do you know if there's any difference in the two versions?

Don't you think that aspiring writers would be better served by reading actual books--novels, etc.-- instead of more how-to books? I encounter so many aspiring novelists, both on message boards, and in-person, who read every how-to book out there, but can barely name even one novel (even in the genre that they aspire to write in) that they have read in the last few months or--God help us--in the past year.

The former poet laureate, Ted Kooser, once stated that "all art is best learned through imitation." Indeed, Ralph Ellison supposedly taught himself to write by taking the books of his most favorite writers and writing paragraphs from those books in his own hand so that he could get a feel for what is like to write like his literary heroes. (We're talking practice here, not plagiarism.)

I think we have more than enough how-to books out there---everybody looking for the easy road to instant success, that one killer secret. Please, let's not encourage more of that.

Thanks Patricia! The only author you listed that I can speak to is Sol Stein. I attended a weekend writing retreat he taught and learned a lot. Now, I'm going to follow your links and learn about the others.

Anonymous: I think you assume all people have the ability to teach--an ability also required to self-teach. This is not true. These writing masters break things down in ways many writers can benefit from, while pointing out the "why."

But you are right, you can't read these books at the expense of books in and outside your genre. As a matter of fact, you can get even more out of such guides by pairing them with other reading material. I read Jack Bickham's SCENE AND STRUCTURE while reading Dan Brown's DA VINCI CODE and that was one intense workshop in plot structure! And I outlined my first novel while reading James N. Frey's THE KEY. So while you may not care for them, they really help a lot of people.

Sorry for not checking in during the day, but I'm out of town and away from my computer this week. Thanks to Kathryn for stepping up and answering questions. And Kathryn, I don't know if there's any different between the two editions.